Reggie Watts performing in Dublin
Improvised Music Gigs
Reggie Watts
Internationally renowned vocalist, beatboxer, comedian and improviser Reggie Watts (pictured) performs at Whelans on 21 January at 8pm, tickets are €20. Watts’ performances blur the lines between comedy and music and are created on the spot using only his formidable voice and looping pedals.
Fidil and Solo Cissokho with Tarab
The trio of Aidan O’Donnell, Ciaran Ó Maonaigh and Damien McGeehan are joined by seventh generation Senegalese griot Solo Cissokho on 29 January in the Button Factory, Dublin. Fidil are a young traditional group that perform music stemming from the Donegal tradition, while Solo is a master of the Kora: a twenty-two stringed harp specific to west Africa.
Read my review of one of Cissokho’s 2011 performance here.
Tarab is led by Francesco Turrissi, with a background in baroque harpsichord, jazz piano and the Moorish dance forms of Southern Italy. He plays accordion, Arabic and Sicilian frame drums, and bridges European musics alongside saxophonist Nick Roth, cellist Kate Ellis, flautist Emer Mayock and percussionist Robbie Harris.
The concert starts at 8pm, tickets are €16.20
entertainment.ticketsolve.com
This concert is presented by Improvised Music Company and Earagail Arts Festival and is part of Temple Bar Tradfest 2012.
Ian Wilson
11 February sees the first performance of a new work of experimental music theatre in the Britten Studio, Sussex, England, by Belfast-born composer Ian Wilson called I Burn for You, inspired by elements of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The concert is It involves an impressive line-up of musicians: vocalists Attila Csihar, Phil Minton, Elaine Mitchener, electroacoustic improviser David Toop, multi-instrumentalist Clive Bell and Irish improvising saxophonist Cathal Roche. Irish director Tom Creed will take the helm and video designer Jack Phelan will provide visual scenography, Wilson is also providing the libretto. Aldeburgh Music’s Faster Than Sound programme is funding this project.
britevents.com/whats-on/suffolk
NOISE Sounds Music Festival 2012
This one-day festival is taking place in Aras Chronain Irish Cultural Centre in Clondalkin on 18 February. The organisers have extended the deadline to take part in proceedings to 2 February, which is completely free and includes master classes and performances from The North Strand Kontra Band, Colm Quearney (aka Q) and The Kane Sisters.
Noise is looking for young musicians aged 13 – 25 from all genres and backgrounds to apply. Contact aduffy [at] sdublincoco.ie () / (01) 4149270 for more details.
Tickets to attend the festival on 18 January cost €5.
Montreal Jazz Festival
The Montreal International Jazz Festival, Canada, has announced a few shows for their 33rd Edition, tickets are already on sale.
Concerts include Esperanza Spaulding, the Wayne Shorter Quartet, Tangerine Dream, Get The Blessing, the Dorantes/Garcia-Fons/Theodosii Spassov Trio, Gianmaria Testa, the Eliane Elias Brasileira Quartet, CéU, Chris Botti, Strunz & Farah and Van der Graaf Generator. The festival takes place from 28 June – 7 July, 2012.
Opportunities
EPTA Piano Festival Call For Student Submissions
EPTA, the Irish branch of the European Piano Teachers’ Association is holding the first EPTA Piano Festival on Wednesday 22, Thursday 23 and Friday 24 February 2012, in the Kevin Barry Room of the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
The festival marks the thirtieth birthday of EPTA Ireland and there are still places to perform in all three of the competition categories. The competition is open to all secondary school pianists of the Irish second level school system or years 12-14 in Northern Ireland. Students may choose any work under seven minutes duration by an Irish composer written after 1960.
Deadline for submissions is fast approaching: 6pm on 17 January and there is a €15 fee application fee per entry.
The Competition is sponsored by the Contemporary Music Centre, who request that students who wish to enter, consult their graded database of works or contact them directly for advice on suitable repertoire.
Personal and Professional Development Event for Teachers – Celebrate Your Voice, With musician Gitika Partington
Saturday 25 February 10.30am-3.30pm in The Ark, Dublin.
Gitika Partington is a contemporary singer and composer from London. She has experience running vocal workshops, choirs, festival events and training for teachers and has led professional development training for local education authorities, music services and Sing Up – the UK’s National Primary School Singing Initiative. Partington aims to inspire and empower teachers to become more confident about singing. This will be Gitika’s first time offering training to teachers in Ireland.
Tickets are €25 and can be booked on 01 670 7788
ark.ie/events/view/creative-self
Opera funding Arts Council Application deadline
As a result of the Arts Council’s new directive on Opera in Ireland, two new funding opportunities are available: the Opera Production Award; designed to encourage partnership-based proposals from those wishing to produce opera at any scale, and an Opera Projects Award; which will focus on supporting partnership-based proposals to develop and/or produce a new work, initially at a small scale.
The deadline for applications for the Opera Production Award (i.e. for activity due to take place later in 2012) is Thursday 9 February 2012. The deadline for applications seeking funding for activities scheduled for 2013 is Thursday 17 May 2012.
Opera Project applications will be sought in advance of twin deadlines of Thursday 29 March (for activity scheduled to take place later in 2012) and Thursday 6 September 2012 (for activity scheduled to take place in the first half of 2013).
Opera bursaries and travel and training awards will continue to be offered to individual practitioners, applications for opera bursaries are due on Thursday 12 July 2012.
